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Black Friday, Cyber Monday and now Small Business Saturday

Today, many around our Toronto office space are talking about the newest excuse for a shopping day that revolved around the USA Thanksgiving. It is called “Small Business Saturday.” Small Business Saturday is not new this year – it was actually conceived in 2010 by American Express as a promotion. The idea was to establish an American shopping holiday held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving as a way of encouraging holiday shoppers to patronize brick-and-mortar businesses that are small and locally owned.

Here in Canada the promotion of Small Business Saturday was done by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses as not only a way of getting Canadians to support small businesses, but also to get the attention of various levels of government to recognize the importance of small business in the Canadian economy. The first Canadian Small Business Saturday was actually held on October 20th, 2012. But as one office space Toronto tenant mentioned, it does not mean that Canadians can’t also piggyback on the promotion surrounding the American Express Small Business Saturday. Another office for rent Toronto client said that his family owns a small retail business and has a sign up that says “Every Saturday is Small Business Saturday Here.”

While it is true that most of the small businesses that have office space for lease Toronto are not open on Saturday, many still work on their businesses on Saturdays and even Sundays. Whether it is servicing a client’s account, catching up on paperwork and bookkeeping, making a sales call or installing their products at customers’ homes, they are still open for business.

Why are Small Business Saturdays so important in Canada? Most office space Toronto tenants know Canadian small businesses are crucial to Canada’s economic success, but many average Canadians do not recognize the importance of small, Canadian-owned businesses. Small businesses are responsible for creating millions of jobs in both large and small communities across the country, so Small Business Saturdays are a way for Canadians to give back to independent businesses by supporting them.